Safeguarding Species in a Warming World

Two stories in Maine caught my eye this week that I think sum up why we're working hard to ensure that any global warming legislation coming out of Congress helps safeguard species at risk of extinction and all our natural resources.

Wednesday was the 10th anniversary of the removal of the Edwards Dam – a hydro dam on the Kennebec river north of Augusta. The removal of the dam opened up 17 miles of fish habitat and started helping restore the river and the towns that surround it. After that, the other benefits started to flow. According to the Kennebec Journal:

Then the birds, insects and other critters from the woods came back. So did oxygen, stirred up by the river flowing faster and over and around gravel bars, greatly improving water quality.

"This is the health of flowing, oxygenated water," Viles said. "The river smells great. The river attracts all sorts of life, including paddlers and fishermen and -women and those of us of all ages compelled to skip rocks.”

"The financial, natural and emotional value of the new river and the whole Kennebec watershed just goes up and up. I think this river, with friends like us, is going to be really healthy."

The other story comes from just the day before, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that $6.1 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would be used to help with dam removal on the Penobscot River, one of three rivers in Maine with populations of Atlantic salmon recently added to the Endangered Species List as endangered.

The investment will help local efforts to remove two dams and create a bypass at a third, which will add nearly 1,000 miles in fish habitat. Not only will it benefit imperiled salmon and other fish, but Village Soup also highlights these benefits:

Work to deconstruct the Great Works dam[the first dam], combined with predam removal scientific monitoring, will yield nearly $5 million in jobs for the region and is expected to employ nearly 155 people in restoration-related engineering and heavy construction jobs (the equivalent of 38 annualized jobs).

The work, over a 24-month project period, will create jobs for construction workers, technical experts including engineers and hydrologists, work for local businesses such as nurseries and contractors, as well as jobs related to scientific monitoring.

“In addition to the immediate jobs created by the projects, stronger and healthier coastal communities will boost our nation’s long-term economic health,” said Commerce under secretary of oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco.

So what does all this have to do with global warming? These are two examples of the benefits we could see not only for endangered species but for our communities as we implement efforts to safeguard species and our wild places from the impacts that we are starting to experience from global warming. Other types of projects might include rebuilding wetlands and coastal marshes, nourishing coral reefs, strengthening headwater forests, restoring natural floodplains, and protecting and connecting grassland and mountain corridors to serve as migratory paths for wildlife.

When the House passed their global warming legislation last month, our Representatives included important policy framework for protecting natural resources from the impacts of global warming, but the funding levels fell far short of the need. Now, the Senate needs to take this strong framework and support it with an adequate funding level of at least five percent of the potential pollution credit revenues. Please help make this happen by contacting your Senators today.

We know our nation's wildlife, fish and plants on the brink of extinction are facing an even harder path to recovery due to global warming's impacts. But, as the two stories from Maine demonstrate, we can help safeguard species and improve our lives at the same time. Sound good to you?

Drought and the San Joaquin Valley unemployment problem

By Mark Rockwell
ESC California Field Representative

Is it really “fish vs. people” as California Governor Schwarzenegger and U.S. Representative Nunes say? To listen to all the rhetoric these days you’d think that people are suffering only because a federal judge and the federal wildlife agencies decided to protect fish. Representative Nunes and our Governor are calling it a regulatory drought and families are suffering as a result. Articles in the L.A. Times and many other papers in California have picked up the story without really checking on data available from the state Employment Development Department records. Here is a link that shows the data pretty clearly.

However, the raw data doesn’t tell the story unless you dig into it. So, here are some of the facts from the data that brings some clarity to the issue. Make no mistake; unemployment is a problem in Mendota and Fresno County. However, it is a problem in almost all of California’s agricultural counties, and Fresno is by far not the worst. If you take the numbers as given for all counties in California for May 2009, and then look at the 9 previous years as well it is quite revealing.

• For Mendota (the town given as the worst and where the governor has visited twice to rile against the Endangered Species Act and his claim of regulation caused unemployment) it shows 38.8% unemployment for May 2009.
• For Mendota, the 9 year previous average is 28.1%. Mendota has led Fresno County in unemployment for the past 10 years (all I reviewed).
• Fresno County, (One of Rep. Nunes's counties, which includes Mendota) shows 15.4% unemployment for May 2009, with a 9 year average of 10.5%.
  
• Of the 18 most agriculture dependent counties in California the average unemployment rate is 15.6% for May 2009. Seven other counties have worse unemployment than Fresno (Imperial, Sutter, Alpine, Colusa, Merced, Yuba and Stanislaus), with the highest in Imperial County in the Southern California desert at 26.8%.
• Six of the seven with greater unemployment than Fresno are not heavily affected by the Central Valley Project (CVP) water cutbacks, and many are able to compensate via groundwater and use cutbacks.
• Lastly, when looking at the 2008 unemployment figures and averages, Fresno county has the eighth highest increase in unemployment (2008 to May 2009), meaning seven other counties have a greater increase in unemployment over the last year than Fresno ( Imperial, Colusa, Merced, Sutter, Yuba, Stanislaus, Tulare). Six of these have limited impact from Central Valley Project reductions or are not affected at all by them.

What this data clearly shows is that unemployment is chronic in Mendota (28.1% average), worsened by the drought, as with all other agriculture dependent counties. The owners of the big farms there are certainly not sharing their profits well with the labor community that serves them. There is much to be done to improve their plight, and it should not include disaster relief from the tax payers (as requested by the Governor and our Senators).

DWR director Lester Snow testified before Congress nearly two months ago essentially saying if there was no court order to protect fish, there would only be a 5% increase in CVP water to the San Joaquin Valley. This shortage is drought caused, not regulation caused.

An interesting side note regarding subsidies to these farms. In 1978 the taxpayer subsidy to the Federal San Luis Unit of the CVP (which supplies water to the west side San Joaquin) was estimated at $770 million or about $1,540.00 per acre (United States Bureau of Reclamation figures). Today that value would be about $5,227.00 per acre using the Cost of Living Calculator for 2007. Another interesting fact is that people in Madera, Merced and Fresno Counties received about $132 million in farm subsidies in 2006. People in Trinity County, where the water for the Western San Joaquin Valley comes from, received $585.00 ( United States Department of Agriculture figures on the Environmental Working Group’s Website Feb 16, 2009).

Who really gets left holding the proverbial bag? Of course it is the federal taxpayer and the public trust. It is time agri-business took more responsibility for the problem and started to work for a solution, not for the drought but to help the farm workers they sometimes employ. This isn’t “fish vs. people”, it is “fish and people.” Both are suffering in this is the third consecutive low water year.

White House Report: Climate Change Killing Species

The Obama Administration released a report last week that stated unequivocally that global warming is happening now and impacting our communities, our health and our natural resources. It also confirmed that climate change is already having impacts on animal and plant species throughout the United States.

	The report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, finds that: About two-thirds of the world’s polar bears are projected to be gone by the middle of this century. It is projected that there will be no wild polar bears in Alaska in 75 years
	The pika, a small mammal whose habitat is limited to cold areas near the tops of mountains, is losing suitable habitat and more than one-third of the populations have gone extinct in recent decades.
	Many migratory bird species are arriving earlier. Large-scale shifts have occurred in the ranges of species and the timing of the seasons and animal migration, and are very likely to continue.
	Trees and other plants are shifting ranges. There will be fewer wildflowers as global warming causes earlier spring snowmelt. Fires, insect pests, disease pathogens, and invasive weed species have increased, and these trends are likely to continue.
	Salmon and other coldwater fish species in the United States are at particular risk from warming. We may loose over half of the wild trout populations from the southern Appalachian Mountains, 60% of western trout populations, and 90% of bull trout.
	Climate change already is causing significant alterations in marine ecosystems with important implications for fisheries and the people who depend on them. Some of these changes have already led to coral bleaching, shifts in species ranges, increased storm intensity, dramatic reductions in sea ice and other significant changes to the nation’s coastlines and marine ecosystems.

Wildlife, birds, fish and plants are going to need lots of help to adapt to a changing world. Programs and funding are needed to rebuild wetlands and coastal marshes, nourish coral reefs, strengthen headwater forests, restore natural floodplains, protect and connect grassland and mountain corridors to serve as migratory paths for wildlife.

Congress is currently debating a climate change and energy bill, which includes programs to safeguard natural resources from the impacts of climate change. Industry lobbyists are trying to weaken the bill, including removing these key natural resources provisions. We are working with our member organizations to secure programs and funding that will safeguard our natural resources and ecosystems from the worst impacts of climate change.

Click here to send a letter to your member of Congress to ask them to support the natural resources adaptation provisions and funding in the climate change bill.

Thank you for help to save polar bears, pikas, pacific salmon, migratory birds, wildflowers, coral and thousands of other endangered species.

Wolverine sighted in Colorado for first time in 90 years

Today, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced that they have tracked a wolverine into Colorado, marking the first time the animal has been found in the state since 1919. The wolverine, named M56, is a young male that was captured in April in Grand Teton National Park. Scientists have been tracking him with a radio collar for the last 2 months as he’s traveled roughly 500 miles.

The sighting comes at an opportune time for the wolverine, as USFWS is reconsidering its ESA status as part of a settlement stemming from a 2008 lawsuit. The suit was filed challenging the agency’s decision not to extend Endangered Species Act protections to wolverines after a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered documents that supported listing. (The suit was filed by Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Northwest, Friends of the Clearwater, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Idaho Conservation League, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Wyoming Outdoor Council.) The documents suggest that biologists within the agency concluded that protection for wolverines was warranted, but were overruled by political appointees within the Bush administration seeking to prevent a second species receiving ESA protection due to climate change. (The polar bear was the first species listed due to the effects of global warming).

The wolverine occupies Arctic and Arctic-like habitat at higher elevations and is dependent upon snow for its survival, making it particularly at risk of further habitat loss due to climate change. Wolverines rely on persistent spring snowpack for their dens, however scientific data indicate a chronic, earlier spring snowmelt in many parts of its range. The settlement calls for FWS to consider the projected effects of climate change on the wolverine’s habitat, including the Rocky Mountains and the North Cascades.

The settlement calls for a new status determination by December 2010. There are currently thought to be less than 500 wolverines in the continental US.

To learn more about the ways species are at risk due to climate change and what can be done to protect them, please visit the Endangered Species Coalition website.

Ask Congress to Protect Our Natural World from Climate Change

In the next few weeks, Congress will vote on an energy and climate change legislation called the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. It sets a first ever cap on global warming pollution and helps reduce the impacts of climate change on our communities, our health and our natural resources. This bill is a good first step, but needs to be strengthened.

Ask Congress to defend and strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Go to http://tinyurl.com/ACESalert

This bill is truly the first time that Congress has contemplated comprehensive legislation to protect wildlife, wild lands and all of the ecosystem services they provide from the threat of climate change. It provides a dedicated stream of funding to specifically help wildlife, fish, plants, and birds on land and in the oceans adapt to climate change. Polluters payments would go directly to funding the conservation programs. And although additional funding will be needed to truly protect wildlife from climate change threats, this is an incredibly important first step.

Safeguarding Species
The House legislation includes a section on initiating and expanding a number of efforts to help reduce the impacts that global warming will have on our communities, our health and our natural resources. Endangered species -and species put at risk of extinction due to global warming - would benefit greatly from these efforts. Basically, these efforts include:

Creating national and local strategies
A wide-range of stakeholder agencies would work together to create a federal plan for protecting or adapting natural resources, including vulnerable wildlife and plants, to the impacts of global warming and ocean acidification. Government agencies and states would then create their own plans that implements their portions of this plan.

Ensuring scientific integrity
Centers within NOAA and USGS would help guide adaptation efforts, coordinate needed research, and be a resource for the scientific and technical needs of addressing the impacts of our changing climate.

Providing resources
The House legislation initially approves spending the equivalent of 1 percent of the potential auction values on natural resources "adaptation" efforts starting in 2012, with the money being used to implement the national and state action plans. This money is distributed across federal agencies, states and tribes. The allocation would bump up to 2 percent in 2022 and then to 4 percent in 2027. It is estimated that this would provide roughly $550 million in 2012 and expand to just over $4 billion by 2030.

Improvements Needed
As Congress continues to debate global warming legislation, the Endangered Species Coalition will be working to protect and strengthen the provisions safeguarding species. Most notably, the need for funding for natural resources adaptation far exceeds what is allocated currently. At a minimum, 5 percent of the value of the total potential auction revenues should be directed to natural resources adaptation. The process used to distribute this funding also needs to ensure that the revenues are dedicated to these purposes and cannot be misdirected elsewhere.

This legislation is a good start, but it needs to be supported and strengthened. Industry lobbyists are trying to weaken the bill, including removing key programs and funding that would protect natural resources from the impacts of climate change.

Please send a letter to your member of Congress today and ask them to defend the natural resource adaption programs and funding.http://tinyurl.com/ACESalert

The next few weeks are critical. We need your help to defend and strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act so that it adequately addresses global warming and provides resources to safeguard our nation's wildlife and wild places from the impacts of climate change.

Send a letter today to protect our natural world from climate change.http://tinyurl.com/ACESalert